Cooling unit



J. T. BRUNO COOLING UNIT Dec. 30, 1958 JOHN T. BRUNO Filed Aug. 17, 1956 ATTORNEY This invention relates to a room cooling unit and, more particularly, to a room cooling unit which can be attached to and operated from the exhaust outlet of almost any vacuum cleaner ordinarily found in the home.

Most available cooling units, such as air conditioners, used in houses and apartments consist of large, heavy, complex and expensive units which absorb huge amounts 'of electricity during their operation. These units are ordinary set within a window frame and cannot be readily moved from room to room as needed. While many people use fans in an attempt to cool a particular room, it is well known that a fan merely circulates the air but does not cool it. When operating a fan as an exhaust fan to remove the warm air from a room, it is necessary for the outside air to be relatively cooler in order to appreciably lower the temperature within the room.

To obviate the above disadvantages present with known cooling units, such as air conditioners, fans and the like, it is an object of this invention to provide a room cooling unit which is small, compact, simple in structure, economical to manufacture in large quantities, has no moving parts, and which may be used for many years without need of ever servicing'any parts thereof.

A further object of this invention is to provide a portable room cooling unit whichmay be quickly and easily attached to the exhaust outlet of almost any vacuum cleaner ordinarily found in the home.

In attaining the objects of this invention, one feature resides in directing the stream of air from the exhaust outlet of a vacuum cleaner against the surfaces of containers having a frozen liquid therein, the containers being arranged in such a manner that all of the air from the exhaust outlet is cooled by the unit prior to passing into the room.

Another feature resides in providing means at the base of the cooling unit which quickly receive and hold the containers having frozen liquid therein in place and just as quickly release them when the containers are to be replaced.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be recognized from the following description thereof taken in conjunction withthe drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the invention, taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the invention illustrated in Fig. l; and

Fig. 4 is a. perspective view of one embodiment of a clamp used for holding the containers of frozen liquid within the unit.

In the embodiment shown in the drawing, the room cooling unit A includes a housing 9 having a base 10 and side walls 11 extending vertically from the peripheral edges of the base. Side walls 11 have apertures 12 at spaced intervals thereon and a cover 13 is securely attached to the upper edges 14 of the side walls.

Base 10 has an opening 15 centrally disposed therebase 10.

of the cooling unit A extends vertically through the opening 15 with the upper edge 18 of the cylinder engaging the bottom surface 19 of cover 13. The upper edge 18 of cylinder 16 is closed and is provided with an opening (not shown) which threadingly receives the shank 20 of bolt 21 located on the cover 13 whereby the cover is securely locked in place on the unit A.

Cylinder 16 is secured at its lower portion to the peripheral edges of openings 15 and the lowermost portion 22 of cylinder 16 depends downwardly from base 10. Means are provide on the lower edge 22 of cylinder 16 for securing the cylinder within or about the exhaust outlet of a vacuum cleaner B (shown in outline in Fig. 1). While a bayonet type slot 23 has been provided at the lower edge of cylinder 16 (see Fig. 1), it is appreciated that various other locking means may be used. In some instances, it may be necessary to provide an adapter on the lower edge of the cylinder 16 so as to enable one to obtain a tight fit with the exhaust outlet of the vacuum cleaner B.

Disposed on the upper'surface 24 of base 10 and arranged about the cylinder 16 at approximately sixty degree angles to each other are three rectangular metal containers 25 having therein a liquid which has been frozen. These containers are of the type. which are readily available at most department and hardware stores and which are suggested for use within a picnic chest to keep the food cold. Upon thawing, the containers may be placed Within the freezing unit of a home refrigerator and the liquid therein again frozen so as to enable the containers to be reused within the cooling unit. The number of times which these containers may be frozen, thawed, refrozen, and reused is almost limitless.

A Although any of several means may be used to hold the metal containers 2 5 in place about the cylinder 16, it is preferred to use a clamp 26 such as the one illustrated in Fig. 4. This clamp 26 consists of two flexible separate spaced plates 27, 27, each having a foot portion 28, 28 secured as by welding to the upper surface 24 of the base 10 and a wall portion 29, 29' extending vertically from-each respective foot portion 28, 28. The length of each flexible spaced plates 27, 27' is slightly shorter than the width of the metal receptacles 25 and each plate is provided with a horizontally extending channel 30, 30' which is substantially parallel to the respec tive footportions 28, 28' and the upper surface 24 of Clamp 26 is made of flexible metal and the space between plates 27, 27 is slightly less than the thickness of the metal container 25. Thus, when the container 25 is inserted between the wall portions 29, 29 of spaced members 27, 27, the head 31 on the lower edge of container 25 fits into channels 30, 30 and the container is locked securely in place by the clamp. As may be seen in Fig. 3 of the drawing, wall portion 29' of member '7 is of greater height than the corresponding wall portion 29 on member 27. This is so because it is desirable to have as much of the area of the metal container 25 exposed to the cylinder 16 as possible in order to achieve the complete cooling of the air coming from the exhaust outlet of the vacuum cleaner B.

Metal containers 25 are so arranged in a triangle,- see Fig. 2, that the beads on the upper and lower corners "of the containersare substantially in contact with those of adjoining containers. This provides a very narrow longitudinal opening or passageway at the junctures of the metal containers through which air from the cylinder 16 may pass outwardly into chamber 17 and from there through the openings 12 in the side walls 11 of the cooling through and a cylinder 16 located within the chamber 17 unitA and into the room. Cylinder 16 is provided with four sets of spaced perforations 32, each set consisting of three pairs of perforations peripherally arranged about 3 the cylinder so that each pair faces one of the three metal containers 25. Thus, air passing through cylinder 16 and out through perforations 32 will be directed against the innersurfaces of the metal containers and will .be quickly cooled. The. cooled air then passes through the narrowlongitudinal openings at the juncturesof the containers, circulates within the unit-and is forced out through openings 11 into the room.

To operate, the cooling unit Aisattached to the exhaust outlet of a vacuum cleanerB. The .cover 13 is removed and a container .25 having therein a frozen liquid is secured within each of the three clamps 26 disposed about the cylinder '16. The cover 13 is secured to the upper surface of the sidewalls 11 bythreading the bolt 21 into the upper surface of the cylinder 36. When the vacuum. cleaner. is turned on, a steady stream of air at a high velocity is directed upwardly into the cylinder 16' from the exhaust outlet and out of the rcspective perforations .32 against the cold sides of the metal container "25. The air is circulated Within the triangle formed by the metal containers 25, rapidly cooled, and passed outwardly into .the main'chamber 17 of the cooling unit through the longitudinal openings at the junctures of the metal containers. This air is then circulated within the chamber 17 and cooled outer surfaces of the container 25 and then passes outwardly through the openings 12 into the room.

It has been found that by spacing the perforations 32 in the manner indicated in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing and insuring the passage of air from the cylinder 16 directly .against the surfaces of the metal containers 25, the most efficient cooling of the air is obtained. Furthermore, by making the height of the cooling unit substantially equal to the height of the metal containers, the air Within the triangle formed by the metal containers has only a few restricted narrow longitudinal openings at the juncture of the containers through which it may pass into the chamber 17 and thence into the room. Since the velocity of the air is increased in passing from the inner triangular chamber to the outer chamber 17, not only is the air rapidly and completely cooled, but it also passes outwardly from the cooling unit A at a high velocity and quickly permeates the entire room. Experiments have demonstrated that an ordinary sized living room may be made ten degrees cooler by the unit described in this invention in approximately one-half hour. As soon as the liquid within the metal containers thaws, the containers are quickly and easily replaced by other containers having a frozen liquid therein, and the thawed containers are placed within the freezing unit of a refrigerator, refrozen and then reused. Thus, with two or three sets of metal containers, one may easily keep the cooling unit of this invention in operation indefinitely, since each container remains in its frozen condition for more than one hour.

Although only one embodiment'of the invention has been shown and described, it will be'readily apparent to one skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made to the invention while still keeping within the scope of the invention and it is intended'to include these various changes and modifications in the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A room cooling unit for attachement to-an air supply outlet comprising a housing havingan opening through the base thereof and a plurality of apertures through its sidewalls, a tubular rod extending upwardly .throughsaid opening into said housing, means onthe lower end of said rod for connecting said rod to said air supply outlet, a plurality o containers located within said housing and arranged about said tubular rod in a manner so as to expose the greatest surface area to-said rod, said rod provided with aplurality of perforations which permit passage of air from said outlet to the surface of the containers and then out through the apertures in said side walls.

2. A room cooling unit for atachment to the exhaust outlet of a home vacuum cleaner comprising a housing having an opening through the base thereof and a plurality of apertures through its side walls, a hollow cylindrical rod extending upwardly through said opening into said housing, a first means on the lower end of said rod for securing said rod to said exhaust outlet of said vacuum cleaner, a plurality of containers located within said housing and arranged about said cylindrical rod in a manner so as to expose the greatest surface area to said rod, a second means within'said housing and secured to the base thereof for removably holding said containers in place, said rod provided with a plurality of perforations which permit passage of air from said outlet to the surface of the containers and through the apertures in said side walls.

3. A room cooling unit for attachment to the exhaust outlet of a home vacuum cleaner comprising a housing having an opening through the base thereof and a plurality of apertures through its side walls, a tubular rod secured to said opening and extending vertically upwardly through the entire height of said housing, means on the lower end of said rod for securing said rod to said exhaust outlet, a plurality of clamping meanswithin said housing and secured to the base thereof, a rectangular container having a bead about its lower peripheral edge removably secured within each of said clamping means, said'clamping means and said containers arranged about and spaced from said tubular rod in such a manner as to expose'the greatest surface area of said containers to said rod, each container having a longitudinal edge thereof slightly spaced from the longitudinal edge of adjacent containers to provide a narrow longitudinally extending opening between adjacent containers, said tubular rod having a plurality of perforations which permit passage of air from said outlet to the exposed surfaces of the containers and through the apertures in said side Walls.

4. A room cooling unit as defined in claim 3 wherein each of said clamping means is provided with a channel for receiving the bead of the rectangular container and locking said container to said clamping means.

5. A room cooling unit as defined in claim 3 wherein each of-said clamping means comprises a pair of flexible spaced plates, each plate having a foot portion secured tothe base of said housing, each plate having a channel on its inner surface extending horizontally throughout its width, said channels being spaced from and substantially parallel to said base, said head on each of said containers being disposed within the channels of their respective clamping means.

6. A room cooling unit as defined in claim 3 wherein the height of said containers substantially equals the height of the inner chamber of-said housing.

7. A room cooling unit for attachment to the exhaust outlet of a vacuum cleaner comprising a base having an opening therethrough, said walls having a plurality of apertures therethrough extending upwardly about the periphery of said base, a removable cover on the upper edges of said side walls, a tubular rod secured to said opening and extending vertically from said base to the undersurface of said cover, said tubular rod having a plurality of sets of perforations therethrough about its surface, a plurality of clamps secured to the upper surface of said base and arranged about said tubular rod, 3. rectangular container having a liquid adapted for freezing removably secured within each of said clamps, and means on the lower end of said tubular rod for securing'said rod to the exhaust outlet of said vacuum cleaner.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,067,004 Spengler Jan. 5, 1937 2,443,469 Manley June 15, 1948 

